Sleeping with the enemy department: Knesset passes law to establish Arabic language academy in Israel

What bullcrap. As long as Jews are still prohibited from praying on the Temple Mount, as long as Arabs promote Jewicide in documents like the Hamas Charter, and as long as Kassam rockets are fired by Arabs into Israel from the no-longer-occupied Gaza Strip, no decent Jew should give a crap about Arabic language and culture. From The Citizens' Accord Forum between Jews & Arabs in Israel:

The Knesset today passed a law to establish anacademy for Arabic language and culture in Israel.
The bill was drafted by MK Rabbi Michael Melchior, MK Nadia Hilou and [Israeli Arab] MK Raleb Majadele. On November 21, the Knesset Education Committee voted unanimously in support of the establishment of the academy. The passing of today's law will facilitate the academy's establishment in parallel to the existing Hebrew Language Academy.

In Israel, Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of the State. However, Arabic has not been paid equal attention by the Israeli authorities. The budget for Hebrew language academia in 2005 was 5,538,000 NIS from the Ministry of Education, and another 1,340,500 NIS from
independent sources. Academies for the preservation of Yiddish and Ladino also receive funding from the authorities.

Three years ago, the report by the Or Commission of Inquiry recommended "that the governing authorities find ways to allow Arab citizens of Israel to express their identity and their culture in public life." Until now, no such moves had been taken to enable this.

Ibrahim Abu Shindi, co-director of the Citizens' Accord Forum, said, "Israel often thinks that she is located in Europe, and forgets that she belongs in the Middle East. The law to establish an academy for Arabic language and culture is a big step forward and is an official recognition by the State of the identity and culture of Israel's Arab minority and its important contribution to Israeli culture and public life."

The academy will be a center for research, and for nurturing Arabic language - with an emphasis on the local dialect, culture and folklore of Arab citizens of Israel. In addition, the academy will address the issues facing the younger generation of Arab citizens of Israel who have grown up
in a bi-lingual environment, thus bringing about a simplification and hybrid version of the Arabic language.